the Grand Canyon its unique form, occur
mostly on the north side of the river. They
were not formed, as the Cracked Earth Soci
ety long maintained, when an uplift split the
earth like a cake that rose too fast.
There's a logical explanation. Less mois
ture falls on the south side, and the plateau
there slopes away from the rim. The Kaibab
Plateau on the north slopes toward the river,
dropping more water from a higher eleva
tion and thus causing headward erosion to
develop faster.
Streams, seeking paths of least resistance,
often follow fault lines in the earth-as pa
per tends to tear along a crease. The steeper
the slope of the stream drainage area, the
deeper and longer the side canyon erodes,
excavating vast amphitheaters and, where
canyons meet, leaving behind the pinnacles.
Preston Swapp, a young packer on the
1937 Shiva expedition, still lives nearby and
until recently grazed cattle on national forest
land in Kanab Canyon. Last fall Swapp was
forced to suspend his operation. He told me
why. "The Forest Service came in and did a
study. Said we were overgrazing."
"Were you?" I asked.
"No."
He maintained that the Forest Service
study team had picked one of the driest peri
ods since his father started grazing cattle
here in 1906 to do its survey. Preston, a
quiet, well-tanned cattleman of 64 years,
said that cattle grazing was once an impor
tant industry here, but is now dying out.
Upper Kanab Canyon is being studied as a
possible addition to the park.
"They're trying to run us out," Preston
complained. "They're taking away a man's
rights. They don't know what this country
will produce. If it isn't grazed, trash plants
such as blackbrush will take over the land.
Those cattle don't compete for food with
A riffle of limestone polished like marble
(above, left) seems a mirror image of the
rushing water that shaped it. A catcher's
mitt of a rock (left) holds a stone that,
when the water rises again, will resume
grinding the pocket.
Deer Creek (right) has exposed a
laminate of sandstone as it takes the easiest
course to river level.